A spirit from ancient
Irish/Scottish Celtic mythology.
From Old
Irish "
ben síde" and modern
Irish "
bean sídhe"/"
bean sí", the word roughly means "woman of the fairies" ("
bean": "woman"; "sídhe": "fairy mound"). When a citizen of a village dies, a woman (sometimes known as keener (taken from the Irish Gaelic word "caoin" ("to weep/cry")) would sing a caoineadh (lament);
legend has it that, for five great Gaelic families: the
O'Gradys, the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, and the Kavanaghs, the lament would be sung by a particular fairy woman.
When the stories were translated into English, a distinction between the "banshee" and the other fairy folk was introduced which does not seem to exist in the original stories in their original language, and the funeral lament became a wail that heralded a death. Hearing the cry of the banshee came to forewarn a death in the family and seeing the banshee would signify one's own death.
Most often, the banshee appears a maiden in white, combing their cascading fair hair with a silver comb (which is likely confused with local mermaid myths), while they are also shown in black or
green and wearing a grey cloak.
She may also appear (near a body of water) as a washer-woman, and is seen apparently washing the blood-stained clothes of the ones who are about to die. In this guise she is known as the
bean-nighe (washing woman).
